California’s contentious and long-debated plan to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and pump more water south finally has a price tag: about $20 billion.  The new estimate for the Delta tunnel project — which would transform the massive water system that sends Northern California water south to farms and cities — is $4 billion higher than a 2020 estimate, largely because of inflation. Included is almost $1.2 billion to offset local harms and environmental damage, such as impacts on salmon and rare fish that state officials have called “potentially significant.” The goal of the project is to collect and deliver more water to two-thirds of California’s population and 750,000 acres of farmland during wet periods … But environmental groups and many Delta residents have long warned that the tunnel could put the imperiled Delta ecosystem at even greater risk, sapping freshwater flows needed for fish, farms and communities in the region.

Related articles: 

• Los Angeles Times: Newsom administration unveils new $20-billion cost estimate for delta water tunnel
• San Francisco Chronicle: Cost of California’s largest water project in decades rises to $20 billion
• AP News: California’s water tunnel to cost $20 billion. State officials say the benefits are worth it 
• Sacramento Bee: Price tag for California’s controversial Delta tunnel project increases by $4 billion